Appearance: Transparent marigold yellow. Aroma: Intense vanilla with undertones of musky citrus, sandalwood, rose and cacao. Flavour and Texture: Very sweet vanilla with buttery spice notes. There are some complex nutty, citrus, honeyed and spice flavours lurking in the background but they never rise high enough in volume to challenge the loud vanilla presence. The texture is thick, luxurious and satiny and it finishes with a sweet chocolate fudge or toffee aftertaste. An unusual liquor, there is a lot going on but it is very much an intertwined profile with only vanilla standing out. It is just barely drinkable neat but exceptionally sweet – much too sweet for my palate - and I prefer it when used as an ingredient. Drinking it neat makes me imagine what drinking neat agave syrup would be like. It goes well as a topping over ice cream and it would probably be an interesting substitute in any cocktail where Galliano or Strega is normally used. It could also be an engaging variation in desserts that normally employ sugar syrup or honey, however the best use I can imagine for this is in black coffee. It's worth a taste and probably worth adding to the bar as an oddity if you happen to see it on special. I certainly don’t dislike it, but I have a feeling this bottle is going to last a very long time. The Distiller official review notes are good, but a score of 90 seems overly generous for what is, to me at least, a competent liqueur at best. However if you have a bottomless sweet tooth or really, really love the smell and taste of vanilla then you’ll be over the moon about this. By the way - Licor 43 also makes two other liqueurs that use this as a base - Horchata, which is a creamy herbal/nut liqueur, and Baristo which is a coffee liqueur. In my opinion both are superior to the original Licor 43. “Average” : 75/100 (2.5 stars)